Marathon Man: Girls on the Run helps young women get fit for life in body and mind

Girls on the Run helps young women get fit for life — in body & mind

Running has always been seen in this column as being about more than just physical health. But rarely has a group embodied that better than Girls on the Run, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping young women between the ages of eight and 13 increase self-esteem. Combining 10 weeks of lessons on topics such as peer pressure, bullying and gossip with running games, and leading up to a 5K event called It’s Cool to Be Me, Girls on the Run is a growing after-school charity program, which in Canada alone has already graduated more than 20,000 girls.

“The girls cross the finish line and make a connection between setting a goal, working hard and achieving something, and learn tools to apply in circumstances in their later lives,” says Rina De Donato, 41, CEO of Girls on the Run Ontario, who brought the initiative north of the border in 2004. “We address the well-being of a whole person — social, mental and physical — and we’re not only encouraging physical activity, but imparting life lessons: how to stand up for yourself, how to be a good friend.”

‘We’re not only encouraging physical activity, but imparting life lessons: how to stand up for yourself, how to be a good friend’

While a typical 75-minute session involves more than an hour of sport, the classes might also include a game where a girl is given a card labelled with a certain emotion; for instance, joy, anger or sorrow. The student then takes a short run on their own to reflect on the word — what does that emotion feel like and when do you experience it the most? Molly Barker, who started Girls on the Run in 1996 in Charlotte, N.C., wanted to create a place for young women to experience their potential and appreciate their self-worth. One mother in Woodbridge, Ont., says her daughter experienced just that.

‘It was a way of deflating her anxiety and stress and an avenue to discuss what was going on’

“It was a way of deflating her anxiety and stress and an avenue to discuss what was going on,” says Marisa Arcuri, whose bullied eight-year-old attended the program. “Sometimes, children don’t know how to express what they’re feeling, but Rina creates a safe environment for them to talk honestly. It should be implemented across Canada as a mandatory program — it was life-changing for my little girl.”

In the United States, there are Girls on the Run programs in almost every state — Michigan alone has 20 separate branches. Currently, Ontario has the only program available in Canada, but De Donato is fighting to change that. She says that what started out with 21 girls (including her two daughters) has now spread to 75 schools and, with strong corporate partnerships, should begin in other provinces in spring 2014.

‘If a child reaches out to us, we want to work with them. No one should be turned away from this program’

“We’re putting the infrastructure together and we’d love to have more people come on board,” says De Donato, who trains the school’s teacher-volunteers, and is herself an expert after working with Barker in Charlotte. “If a child reaches out to us, we want to work with them. No one should be turned away from this program.”

Of course, there’s no better way to understand Girls on the Run than to hear from one of its graduates. Allison Arcuri says she’d recommend the program to all of her friends. The experience, she says, changed the vision of herself that she carried around in her head.

“Because I was bullied, I didn’t exactly feel the greatest about myself, but Girls on the Run made me feel really good,” she says. “I thought I was going to be laughed at because I’m not the best runner, but I was so happy at our lessons. It’s not like the stuff that teachers teach you, it’s deeper. It feels like you’re around friends.”